Ex-Chief Secretary of Karnataka becomes Interim Chairman of Coffee Day

Coffee Day Enterprises on Wednesday named independent director S V Ranganath as the interim chairman of the company to replace its founder VG Siddhartha, who has been confirmed dead days after he went missing.

Bengaluru: The Board of Directors of the Coffee Day Enterprises Limited met on Wednesday here and appointed S.V. Ranganath as the interim chairman of the company. The decision was taken in the wake of sudden demise of V.G. Siddhartha under mysterious circumstances.

V.G. Siddhartha was the founder as well as the Chairman and Managing Director of the company which owns Cafe Coffee Day outlets across the country.

Siddhartha went missing on Monday at the Netravati river near Mangaluru. His body was found in the backwaters of the river Wednesday morning.

In the meeting, the Board of Directors expressed its condolences to V. G. Siddhartha's family and resolved to lend its support and expressed full confidence in the Company' s management team.

The Board also said that it was deeply committed to safeguarding the interests of all stakeholders, including investors, lenders, employees and customers.

An executive committee was also formed by including Nitin Bagmane, who was also appointed as the interim chief operating officer and R. Ram Mohan, CFO of the company. The committee will look into the daily affairs of the company.

Besides, the executive committee will explore options to divest company’s assets to reduce company’s debt burden.

Ex-IAS Officer V.G. Ranganath

At present, Ranganath is an Independent Director in the company. He is an ex-IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre and also worked as the Chief Secretary during S.M. Krishna’s Government. Krishna is the father-in-law of deceased Siddhartha.

The next meeting of the board will take place on August 8.